Kako najboljše oceniti znanje študentov ali dijakov je ena od nerešenih dilem med raziskovalci na področju izobraževanja. Vprašanja izbirnega tipa so postala zelo priljubljeno orodje preverjanja znanja na vseh ravneh izobraževanja. Kljub temu pa obstajajo tudi raziskovalci, ki so v dvomih glede zadostnosti takega načina ocenjevanje znanja. V prispevku predstavljamo študijo, ki je zajela 167 študentov fizioterapije. Študenti so po izvedenih urah fizike reševali test, ki je vseboval vprašanja izbirnega tipa. Pri tem so odgovarjali na vprašanja s področij, ki so bila zajeta v snov na predavanjih, in s področja Moderne fizike, ki ni bila del izvedenih predavanj. Rezultati raziskave kažejo na to, da je mogoče z nalogami izbirnega tipa uspešno preveriti znanje študentov oziroma dijakov.

V zadnjih dveh desetletjih številni raziskovalci na področju izobraževanja iščejo nove metode s ciljem izboljšati izobraževalni proces. Projekt COLOS (Conceptual Learning Of Science) spodbuja izrabo didaktičnega potenciala sodobne tehnologije za učenje in poučevanje fizike ter naravoslovja na sploh. Z empirično raziskavo, predstavljeno v tem prispevku, želimo dognati, ali je konceptualno učenje in poučevanje fizike učinkovitejše v primerjavi s tradicionalnim frontalnim poukom fizike. Poglavitni cilj študije je bil raziskati učinek konceptualnega učenja in poučevanja fizike na področju Elektrike in Magnetizma v srednji šoli. Ključna ugotovitev raziskave je, da so dijaki, ki so bili deležni konceptualnega načina poučevanja, dosegli boljše rezultate kot dijaki, ki so bili deležni tradicionalnega pouka.

To provide a good understanding of many abstract concepts in the field of electricity above that of their students is often a major challenge for secondary school teachers. Many educational researchers promote conceptual learning as a teaching approach that can help teachers to achieve this goal. In this paper, we present Physlet-based materials for supporting conceptual learning about electricity. To conduct research into the effectiveness of these materials, we designed two different physics courses: one group of students, the experimental group, was taught using Physlet-based materials and the second group of students, the control group, was taught using expository instruction without using Physlets. After completion of the teaching, we assessed students' thinking skills and analysed the materials with an independent t test, multiple regression analyses and one-way analysis of covariance. The test scores were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group (p < 0.05). The results of this study confirmed the effectiveness of conceptual learning about electricity with the help of Physlet-based materials.

Many educational researchers have investigated how best to support conceptual learning in science education. In this study, the aim was to design learning materials using Physlets, small computer simulations, and to evaluate the effectiveness of these materials in supporting conceptual learning in secondary school physics. Students were taught in two different physics courses (conditions): one group of students (n = 40) was taught using Physlet-based learning materials, and the other (n = 40) was taught using expository instruction. To evaluate the designed materials, we assessed students' thinking skills in relation to physics after the course and analyzed the results using an independent t test, multiple regression analyses, and one-way analysis of covariance. The results showed better thinking skills among students in the experimental group and supported a clear relationship between the physics course using Physlet-based materials and this improvement (p < 0.05). These results indicate that properly designed Physlet-based materials can effectively support conceptual learning.

The Conceptual Learning of Physics in Slovenian Secondary Schools In the last decade, educational researchers have been intensively searching for new, innovative teaching approaches. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has a great didactic potential and project COLOS (Conceptual Learning of Science) encourages the use of ICT in the contemporary educational process. In this paper we present the conceptual learning of Physics. With experimental research we investigated the effectiveness of such learning in Slovenian secondary school. Two groups of third-year students who were enrolled in an introductory Physics course participated in the study. In the experimental group students were taught through the conceptual learning and in the control group a traditional expository instruction was used. We examined the knowledge of students after carrying out lessons specifically on the topic of Electricity. Five thinking processes were assessed - Knowledge (Recall), Analysis, Comparison, Inference and Evaluation. We found that the conceptual learning was more effective than the traditional instruction.